New DRK is awful. Here’s why and what could be done about it.

[ForteNightshade]

Stopped reading at "blatant homogenization". People need to stop misusing this term.

Also, MP management is still very much a thing with new DRK. And it's got a very unique identity.

While that term does get overused a bit too much. You picked arguably the worst example seeing new, new Delirium is literally Inner Release, but worse.

[Hierro]

I am actually perfectly fine with the decision to reduce DM's mitigation to 20% down from 30%. This is due to the fact that TBN's buff actually hampers the impact of the nerf, and the fact that every single tank will be able to use some form of "intervention" to aid in tank busters.

But seriously, I want the speed and feeling of engagement.

[Satarn]

Stopped reading at "blatant homogenization". People need to stop misusing this term.

Also, MP management is still very much a thing with new DRK. And it's got a very unique identity.

So what you're saying is you stopped reading before the post even started explaining what the issues really are?

As for misusing terms:
DelIRium uses the exact same resource-free window mechanic as reworked Inner Release, has same cooldown and same duration. It also happens to be very similar to Requiscat window that IR's been compared to in the past.
Blood Weapon has also been changed into a tight, 10 second window with much longer cooldown and our frequently used, smaller potency resource spenders have been replaced with much rarer - except for the short spam windows - heavy hits. This shifts DRK's focus from sustained dps with adjustable burst, into inflexible, timed burst dps - just like Warrior. WAR also happens to have some resource management left in it's "downtime" due to beast gauge.
Without Blood Weapon's speed buff we're landing on the same slow gcd as the other tanks.

Homogenization does not mean "reeeee, literally everything is the same now!" - it means things have been brought too close for comfort to each other, in a misguided attempt to make the playstyles more uniform.

If Yoshi is ignoring the cries of the JP DRK players, our voices are definitely not going to reach them. We can do everything in our power to try and come up with ways to help fix the issues with DRK but we'll be ignored at the end of the day.

I understand how SE's treatment of Dark Knight in 4.x has been disheartening. We have indeed been ignored many times and told to wait, over and over, only to now be slapped with a rework that kills the job's identity instead of fixing anything. That is however, even more the reason to speak up and be vocal about how much we hate it.
Back at start of Stormblood, Warriors had their own thread asking for changes, prompted by Xeno's Moogle Report interview. It was long, it was noisy and in the end - for better or worse - they got the exact changes they asked for. That is how we ended up with revamped Inner Release.
If we're loud enough and have a long thread, full of posts expressing our discontent, we might just be noticed.

Dark Missionary is fine. Raidwide damage is usually magic and it's a minor trade off all things considered.
Think of it as the price paid by TBN being straight up better than all of its counterparts while simultaneously being lower in cd.

I am actually perfectly fine with the decision to reduce DM's mitigation to 20% down from 30%. This is due to the fact that TBN's buff actually hampers the impact of the nerf, and the fact that every single tank will be able to use some form of "intervention" to aid in tank busters.

But seriously, I want the speed and feeling of engagement.

While TBN is indeed very strong, Paladin and Warrior have also gained very good additions and changes to their own mitigation and utility kits.

WAR no longer needs to rely on Holmgang to make up for their lack of on-demand cd with changes to Raw Intuition(which also has lost it's limitation to physical damage), while Holmgang not only retained it's insanely low cd, but also got most of it's weaknesses removed. They gained Nascent Glint to help their co-tank with both mitigaiton and self-sustain and even Shake it Off has been indirectly buffed, by lowering cooldowns of RI and Thrill, so that they can boost it's power more frequently.

PLD meanwhile got Sentinel's cooldown dropped to 2 minutes(the mititigation also has been lowered, but let's be real - this is objectively a buff overall) and Sheltron now blocks everything for full 5 seconds instead of only the first hit and remember that with higher tier gear, the block's power will increase. They also retained two raid mitigation tools and while cover has been nerfed, they are now free to use Intervention whenever needed without a dps loss, thanks to removal of Shield Swipe procs.

That said, while I am afraid that we might once more be left a bit behind, I'm mostly concerned with the playstyle of the job.

[Kaedan]

snip

No, it's a tongue-in-cheek term. When someone says they "stopped reading at X", they don't actually stop reading at X (most of the time). It means that's the first place where they notice a glaring error in the post which then usually cascades, rendering the rest of the post more and more out of sync.

I read the entire post, but the point where you claim "blatant homogenization" sets the false tone for your entire post. Consequently, you fall in to the reduction to absurdity trap for the rest of your post.

[Satarn]

No, it's a tongue-in-cheek term. When someone says they "stopped reading at X", they don't actually stop reading at X (most of the time). It means that's the first place where they notice a glaring error in the post which then usually cascades, rendering the rest of the post more and more out of sync.

I read the entire post, but the point where you claim "blatant homogenization" sets the false tone for your entire post. Consequently, you fall in to the reduction to absurdity trap for the rest of your post.

I am aware and my reply was also intended to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, as I have found you to be misunderstanding the term "homogenization" yourself, despite being so quick to discredit my arguments based on that. Well, either that or you are not seeing all that many of us are seeing in the changes.

I have also explained to you exactly how the term very much applies to the situation.
Have I used a bit of a hyperbole? Perhaps, but still not as much as the term "absurdity trap" carries.

[Freyyy]

Also, MP management is still very much a thing with new DRK. And it's got a very unique identity.

Right now there's still a lot of people claiming that we should wait for Shadowbringers' release before asking for anything because the footage from media tour is "not final" and "subject to change". Some people like you are also claiming that the job will still feel unique. I say wait and see then. I'm pretty sure that we'll see a lot of threads like this one once the expac will be released.

The only things that are "not final" and "subject to change" are potencies and other numbers like recast timers. The gameplay isn't. The DRK we're going to have will be the DRK from the media tour, with maybe some slight number changes. We might still not have played the job but we're reading tooltips and analyzing footage, theorycrafting accurate rotations out of these informations. And DRK is going to look very flashy but feel absolutely terrible.

I see where you're coming from though. When I first saw the live letter and the job actions trailer, I was hyped for DRK. I was like "no more Dark Arts spam ! New flashy abilities ! Darkside extension mechanic ! Living Shadow ! COUNT ME IN BOIS", then the media tour embargo lifted and I saw : Still only Souleater combo. New flashy abilities are actually Dark Arts in disguise with higher potency. Way slower MP regen so that we don't spam it. No more haste on Blood Weapon and higher CD. Living Shadow is actually just a flashy DoT with a huge delay at the start. Delirium is Inner Release without direct crits. Darkside extension is actually not a mechanic. It's just there to make you believe that you have an extra job mechanic.
Then I saw the theorycrafted rotations and it just got even worse. Because of this slow MP regen, new Delirium and Darkside being a total non-issue, we're going to save as much MP as possible without overcapping (which will be very easy because of this slow MP regen) for raid burst windows. This is hardly what we call "MP management". Outside of these raid burst windows our rotation is basically just going to be composed of Souleaters and occasionnal Bloodspillers. Very few oGCDs left. It's going to be slow and boring with only big oGCD EoS weaving during 10sec burst windows once per minute. No more "real" resource management. It'll just feel like a WAR with just one combo and oGCD MP spenders. This isn't a rework in the slightest. This is just SB DRK but slowed down with new animations to make it look reworked. It's really lame when you take into account that they told us to wait for the next expansion for a full rework because they "didn't have the time" to do it within Stormblood. It's a real shame.

[Big-Isaac]

Fray mode could be the basis for the entire friggin job, not just a glorified DoT.
Have it consume a small amount of Bloodgauge on use, and a slowly increasing amount every second. While it's up, Fray mimics your weaponskills, increasing both their damage and doubling their bonus effects (twice as much MP from Syphon Strike, twice as much HP drained from Souleater, etc)

Alternatively, have it consume all of your Bloodgauge on use and make it last X number of seconds per Y Bloodgauge consumed. Then keep the same damage and effect doubling property of the above. You could then have skills like Bloodspiller extend the duration by X seconds, while Quietus could extend it by Y seconds per enemy hit. Etc etc

[Tint]

Fray mode could be the basis for the entire friggin job, not just a glorified DoT.

I am imaging an ultimate CD where you summon your shadow and when you die you get reborn inside your shadow.

Also that simply your Shadow takes the enmity lead and you sacrifice him instead of yourself (Living Dead, lol). Could also be usefull to park him on the boss while you are picking up adds...

Of course the first option would be more edgy.

[Freyyy]

I am imaging an ultimate CD where you summon your shadow and when you die you get reborn inside your shadow.

[...]

Of course the first option would be more edgy.

I like this amount of edge. We need more of that. Like what if this song started playing for everyone in the party whenever we're entering the Walking Dead state ? Would be a really cool way to tell healers that we need healing.

Jokes aside, Living Shadow is indeed a huge missed opportunity and could've even been used as a replacement for Living Dead in multiple different ways.

[Tint]

What is Quietus actually good for?

I remember SB release where I never used that skill. I spammed Abyssal Drain for enmity + damage and then I used Souleater-combo to regain my mana for the next pull. Quietus became usefull when they added the MP generation to it.

But now it looks like they are doing the same mistake over again.

So we have the Unleash > Stalwart Soul combo for AoE, wich gives us mana and blood. Then we have Quietus, wich does nothing else than a bit more damage than our combo skills (180 potency) and then we have Flood of Shadow, wich is a 300 potency off-GCD AoE attack wich extends Darkside.

So why should I ever want to waste my GCD on Quietus when my combo gives me mana wich I can use on TBN, wich I need for mitigation, or directly on FoS? Every Quietus will delay my combo, wich means I will generate less mana.

Okay, I can spam Quietus in the Delirium window to get a bit more damage and mana. But that can't be everything this skill is good for? What a shame.